Mark

There was also an ARDUN conversion for the 60. It doesn't look like the better known "big engine" setup though.

Through 1940 here. The 1941 Fords were a bit bigger and heavier, the 60 was passable in areas without a lot of hills but was borderline at best. It wouldn't have worked at all in a '41. During '41 Ford introduced a straight six, and also made an inline four that was created for pickups, but some claim a handful of them made it into cars. The inline engines had more torque than the miniature V8, so they were workable whereas the 60 really wasn't up to the job.

The one story I saw was about a fantasy game oriented store in Quebec closing (or possibly relocating) due to more restrictive French-language regulations coming in. Pretty much everything he sells would have to have it on the packaging, and a lot of those items come from smaller companies that can't/won't devote much effort to that, as they can sell everything they make now. Hobby shops aren't closing because of pricing, they're closing because it's not the greatest business to be in. Lots of "dead stock" on the shelves, and lots of people buying kits a few bucks cheaper elsewhere. The local shop can't keep the doors open selling bottles of paint and other small stuff.

2 versions coming in the near future...but there will be more down the road. Stock, pro touring, factory FX with big and small engines. The pro touring might he a response to possible criticism of the non-stock Nova hardtops (though I myself have never heard or read any). The Nova street machine versions aren't the most up to date (though there are still lots of 1:1 cars out there like them). It will be interesting to see what they go with for a power train for that one. Moebius' mantra with car and light truck kits is to design in several versions right off the bat, and so far it has paid off for them. That would seem to be the right strategy for the subject matter they have been choosing.

If I were trying to piece one together, I'd avoid including any part of the Trumpeter Falcons, as they are an outlier compared to the AMT and Moebius kits. They're way different in parts layout and construction, and probably in dimensions as well. I had one of the Falcons, but got rid of it pronto after seeing how off base it was compared to anything else. Why they saw the need to reinvent so many aspects of a model car kit, I'll never understand. All they had to do was bring some subjects nobody else had, and do a halfway decent job of it.

I've never seen a '65 wagon, but did see a '64 wagon in resin a few years back. Of course it was based on the AMT '64 hardtop, but the resin wagon used the hardtop windshield which is incorrect. The Comet wagons were basically Falcon wagons with Comet front sheet metal, and on the Falcon's shorter wheelbase. If a resin body (for either the AMT '64 or Moebius '65) uses the Comet chassis unchanged, it's wrong right off the bat.

There are similar wire wheels in the latest reissue '66 Thunderbird kit. Round 2 also sells those as a parts pack (five wheels and four tires).

They were trying to make it look like the then highly successful Honda CR-X. Should have stuck with the original styling. I read somewhere that there was to have been a Chevrolet version, strictly a fuel-economy oriented commuter car. GM probably should have built that too, the sales between Chevy and Pontiac would have kept the car around a lot longer.

Revell '55 Chevy. NOT the newer kit they have sold in recent years, but the old, opening-doors one they last issued in the Nineties. Atlantis probably has that kit tooling now; if so, it's just a matter of time as to its being reissued.

Looks like '58 Cadillac to me.

I'd just clean that GTO up, and in the display case it goes. I never did find a complete one, but did find a parts box with the roof from one in it.

They sell those same wheels as "rat rod" wheels now. They are semi-gloss black instead of chrome, and don't have the wire baskets. You're supposed to paint/pinstripe them to individualize them.

It's 1/32 scale, could be Pyro. Palmer knocked off a number of Pyro kits, it could be one of those also. One of them (Pyro I believe) was last available as a Lindberg kit.

I can't find it, but there is/was a YouTube short video showing a mechanic trying to remove the cam cover in (IIRC) a Chevy Colorado. The intake manifold has to come off to get to the cam cover, as it crosses over the top of it. Somehow that leads to the front cover coming off, and that incorporates the engine's oil pump. To get all of that off, the oil pan has to come off. To get to that, he's tearing into the front suspension. Someone mentioned the first-generation Colorado having been designed be GM and Isuzu. Actually it was mostly GM, as they reworked most of Isuzu's original work. I remember test driving one in 2004 when I was looking for a new pickup. Push the button to roll the passenger side window up/down, and see the interior door panel flexing. That was the first truck that got scratched off the shopping list. GM made sure to clear all of the S-10s off the dealer lots before sending out any Colorados (except crew cab 4 X 4s, as the Colorado equivalent wasn't being built yet). They would have been way smarter to just update the S-10 back then.

It's the cheapest way to do it. They might claim the "safety" angle if someone there actually thought of it while being asked about it, but it's the cheapness that's at the root of it. In other cars GM has shoved the battery and other items into other hard-to-access areas. There's at least one car where the battery is shoved under the front fender, and when the battery terminals corrode it actually shows on the fender.

I worked with a guy who was hit and miss when it came to keeping tabs on his cars. One day he complained that his car (late Seventies Ford V8) was running hot. He went to the parking lot and checked the radiator, it was okay. I mentioned checking the oil, he went back and did that. "It's four quarts low". "You do know that engine only takes five quarts, and nearly a whole one of those is in the oil filter, right?" Puts oil in, it doesn't overheat on the way home.

Volkswagen left the building for me back when I was considering one of those early Eighties Rabbit pickups. According to the owner's manual, 400 miles per quart was considered normal oil consumption. No wonder they were good on gas...

I believe it was '37 through '40 in the USA, though it lived on a lot longer elsewhere. It was probably a "delete option" here, meaning you got the 85 hp engine unless you specifically ordered the 60. The 60 brought with it a few unique parts, like the lightweight tubular front axle on 60 equipped 1937 cars that is highly sought after. I would get some good images of a 60 with transmission attached, then scratchbuild the thing. It's basically a miniature version of the regular unit, and those don't seem to be terribly complicated in terms of shapes needed to duplicate it in scale. I want to stick one of those engines in an Anglia or Thames, so when that happens I'll probably scratch the thing.

The 1/25 scale 60 hp V8 ends up being about the same size as a 1/32 scale 85 hp V8. The transmissions are about the same size relative to one another; that is, the 60 transmission is that much smaller than the "big" unit. So, you'd have to find a 1/32 scale part, or scratch one proportionally smaller to work with the smaller engine.

Haven't seen an aftermarket one; however, one version of Revell's 1/25 scale midget racer kit had a modified V8-60. No transmission though, only an in/out box.

Plastic parts and wet belts don't belong anywhere near an automobile engine.

The two are different kits entirely. The instructions for the Thames panel truck would be helpful for the Anglia. The Henry J and (Revell) Willys pickup use the same chassis as the Austin, so either of those instructions would work for it.

Of all of them, Packard WAS building cars only eight years prior. Of course, the end product was the Sixties equivalent of a Cadillac Cimarron, but it was only meant as a placeholder until Studebaker-Packard could get funding in place to build "real" Packards once again. Which, of course, never happened. Interesting that Exner didn't take a swing at a Cord, technically one of the most interesting Thirties cars. Glenn Pray did build a miniature replica...but if you really think about it, Oldsmobile did a better job with their attempt in 1966...

Those items were included in the AMT/Ertl Customizing Series kits from the late Eighties. There was a '50 Ford convertible, '49 Mercury, '66 Buick Wildcat, and '66 Thunderbird. Also included was some two-part putty in two ("A" and "B") packets. The two things on either side of the tweezers was a sanding stick. The two pieces snap together, you're supposed to cut a piece of sandpaper to wrap around the larger stick and then snap the smaller piece on to hold it in place.

The 429 version of the kit was done long before the 302. The towers must be correct for the 429, otherwise the engine wouldn't fit. The 302 is the incorrect kit, using the 429 kit's body unchanged in that respect.